3 AM Cravings
by MsLane
Summary: "You're baking cookies in the communal kitchen at 3 A.M. and I'm angry but also really hungry…so I mean, yeah if you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd love some." Staubrey (gasps I know whoa lol) (now with a sequel)
1. Chapter 1

Aubrey Posen huffs as she grumpily storms through the halls, towards the communal kitchen at three in the morning, having gotten absolutely nowhere with her rather incompetent project partners.

"I may as well just do it all myself," she mutters to herself, eyebrows furrowed and practically fuming as she pushes through the doors only to stop in her trail as she realizes she's no longer alone.

Stacie Conrad, who is perfectly content with being enthralled in her book, sitting up on the table, looks up from said book the moment Aubrey shows up, and offers her a small smile as she quietly utters, "Hello."

Though still reeling from having to deal with stupid people, her curiosity and upfront nature causes Aubrey to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, "What're you doing here? It's three o'clock in the morning."

She watches as Stacie, who she faintly remembers from having shared a couple of classes with before, puts down the book and leans back against the table and shrugs, "I'm baking cookies." She says it so factually, her eyes sparkling with an undercurrent of delicious mischief.

"At _three_ in the morning…?" Aubrey asks as she raises an eyebrow, not quite sure about just how serious Stacie is being right now.

Grinning at her, Stacie nods, "Mhm. I was up anyways, and I _really_ wanted some homemade cookies…so, here I am." She pauses, taking in Aubrey's slightly disheveled look, stress obviously playing a role in her appearance, before asking, "Would you like some after they're done?"

Slightly taken aback by the offer, Aubrey ends up sort of staring at this woman in front of her. The woman that's offering her some freshly baked goods.

"I mean, you don't have to say yes…it's alright, I just…I thought I'd offer that's all," Stacie says stiltedly, wondering if perhaps she should have just kept silent when Aubrey obviously was pissed off and not in the mood.

"No! I mean…yes, I'd love to have some cookies, thank you." Aubrey manages after having kicked her brain into gear. She shakes her head slightly at herself as she catches Stacie's eyes, trying to come off less aggressive as she says, "You're baking cookies in the communal kitchen at 3 A.M. and I'm angry but also really hungry…so I mean, yeah if you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd love some."

Tilting her head, Stacie bravely ventures forth, "Is…everything alright? Not to burst your carefully constructed façade or anything but uh you look like you need to punch something…or some _one_."

Aubrey lets out a surprised laugh as she stiffly walks towards the chair that Stacie is supposed to be using, which is located in front of her swinging legs, and nods her head as she looks up at her, "Yeah… _punching_ isn't exactly what I was imagining but I'll say it was, so you don't go thinking I'm completely insane."

Barely kicking her heels back and forth, Stacie smiles at Aubrey, a full one now that she's at least pretty sure she won't bite her head off, and says, "Rough day, huh?"

Aubrey nods, not even caring that she's pretty sure she's about to open up to this practical stranger, "Just about one of the roughest ever."

Stacie hums and just watches as the blonde shuts her eyes and lets out an angry breath with the words, "I _hate_ group projects."

Stacie lets out a breathless laugh, completely understanding the anger now, "Ah…I see."

Aubrey's eyes open and she locks her gaze with Stacie, "Do you? Because if so, I am _so_ sorry. _No_ one should ever experience _this_ level of incompetence and ignorance mixed in with a state of laziness that has even sloths ashamed and embarrassed."

Stacie doesn't mean to laugh, because she honestly does know how awful group work can be, but Aubrey's snark is intimidatingly hilarious and she's incredibly amused, "I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just…you're really funny." She grins as she says this before switching gears towards a more serious look as she says, "I do totally understand the horror of group projects though. It's ridiculous. I'd rather just do the whole thing on my own, than have to put up with this stupidity."

Aubrey nods, "Right?! Exactly. I can efficiently do all the work and finish everything in half the time it takes to get them to even _pretend_ to be doing anything of value!"

Stacie nods, "Absolutely. It's such bullshit."

Sighing, Aubrey then groans, "Truth."

The blonde finds herself opening up to Stacie about the issues she's been facing with this particular group while they wait for the first sheet of cookies to finish, and Aubrey is surprised by how receptive Stacie is, since she's basically just listening to her whine about her group mates from hell.

"And I wish she could have just admitted to not being sure about what she's supposed to be doing. No. No, instead she just figures she'll wait until the next time we all meet up to reveal that 'no actually I didn't do anything because I wasn't sure and I didn't wanna do something wrong.' Like…I literally have my phone with me all the damn time. My email is synced to it too…All she had to do was ask and I'd have been able to explain it all again. I've stressed it a _million_ times."

Aubrey takes a deep breath and just lets the air out slowly, blowing out all of her pent up frustrations too.

The timer rings then, signaling that the cookies are ready to be taken out and Stacie grins at her beautifully as she hops off of the table top, "You've got impeccable timing."

Aubrey watches as she pulls out a baking sheet with a dozen of the most delicious smelling chocolate chip cookies she's had the privilege of being served, "Those smell exactly how I'd picture the perfect batch of homemade cookies would smell."

Stacie chuckles as she puts the baking sheet down before grabbing the second one and popping it into the oven, "You're telling me you've never baked cookies at home? Never had someone bake them for you either?"

Aubrey swallows past a tight throat, as she shakes her head once tersely, and then brusquely says "Affirmative."

Stacie turns then, to fully face the blonde after setting the timer once again, and realizes she's managed to prod her into going on the defensive.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I-that was insensitive of me."

Aubrey studies her face and she's surprised when she finds genuine remorse and she's even more surprised by the fact that she's lowering her shoulders and relaxing once again.

She's not one to usually forgive a hiccup like that so quickly. Once she's pulled the barrier back up, it usually takes a while to relax again enough around the person that caused them to have to go up…Except now. Except here.

Before she really realizes what she's doing, she hears herself saying, "It's alright. You didn't do say it to hurt me on purpose."

Stacie shakes her head, "Of course not."

Aubrey nods once, "Precisely. So, no need to apologize."

Clearing her throat, Stacie shuffles her feet slightly as she indicates with her thumb towards the cooling cookies, "I'm glad these are going to be your first 'homemade' ones then. They look perfect."

Silently watching the brunette grab a couple of glasses, Aubrey is suddenly hit with a profound wanting. A desperate sort of feeling really, and it's all to do with hoping beyond all hope that these cookies will live up to her imagination, and everything she's always dreamed homemade cookies would be.

It's crazy, Aubrey knows this, but she can't control these feelings. Especially not at nearly twenty past three in the morning, while hungry and drained and in desperate need of a bed soon after being fed.

"Here you go! I poured you some milk, but uh if you'd rather something else..?" Stacie says as she places the plate of cookies down on the table, quickly followed by the two glasses, now filled with milk as she takes a seat across from her.

Aubrey shakes her head, "No thank you, milk is perfectly acceptable. Thanks."

Stacie just grins at her and pushes the plate closer to her slightly, "Go 'head. I wanna see what you think of them."

Aubrey looks from Stacie's face down towards the plate of cookies just calling out to be eaten. She tilts her head and assesses each cookie, trying to find the most perfect one to leave for Stacie, seeing as she's the one that's baked these, and-

"These cookies of chewy goodness are not going to get consumed all on their own. Staring at them wont work either." Stacie teases lightly, and is glad when Aubrey just rolls her eyes at her and reaches out for one finally.

The first bite has Aubrey widening her eyes and blinking owlishly at Stacie, not even chewing anymore as she savors the moment the chips are melting against her tongue and lips, still nice and warm from the oven.

She whispers, "Oh my God," before taking another bite, her eyes shutting on their own accord as she manages to murmur, "I could kiss you right now, this is amazing."

Stacie just grins widely as she watches the blonde in front of her basically unravel at the seams because of cookies she's baked. She teases lightly, "Oh, that'd be more than alright with me…you'd just have to take me to dinner first, at the very least. Cookies don't exactly count."

Aubrey's eyes spring open then, and she stares at Stacie silently, barely even breathing for a beat before she nods her head slowly, swallowing her mouthful of delicious chocolate chip goodness before saying, "You're right. Cookies don't count. So, how about, as a thank you for having listened to me go off about my group project, as well as sharing these heaven sent cookies, I treat you to dinner tomorrow night?"

Stacie bites her lip before she tilts her head and asks, barely believing this turn of events, "Really? You're really asking me out to dinner?"

Aubrey takes a sip of her drink before she nods and says, "I'm _really_ asking you out to dinner. But don't feel like you have to say yes or anything. I can imagine what you must be thinking, this crazed blonde-"

Stacie cuts her off by grabbing hold of her hand and squeezing, a large smile on her face, "I would _love_ to have dinner with you!"

"Ye-yeah?"

Giggling, Stacie nods, "Yeah."

A faint blush appears on Aubrey's cheeks, but she refuses to acknowledge it as she smiles at Stacie, wondering to herself what good she must have done in another life to deserve this.

As she watches the brunette wash and put away their used dishes, she's hit with the realization that she's going to be going out with her later in the day and that thought sort of causes her heart to skip a beat in her chest, a little stumble in the normal sinus rhythm.

The thought crosses her mind once again when the timer goes off and Stacie packs all of the cookies into a plastic Tupperware container and hands it over to her.

"What're you doing?"

Stacie raises an eyebrow as she continues to hold out the container full of cookies, "Uh, giving you these cookies."

Aubrey shakes her head, rolling her eyes as she says, "No, yeah I can see that. _Why_ are you doing that?"

Stacie shrugs nonchalantly as she gives her a small smile, eyes twinkling, "You seemed to have been enjoying them rather enthusiastically. Definitely more so than I could, and you probably need another pick me up after dealing with the group mates from hell tomorrow too."

The blush on Aubrey's face darkens slightly, and really she blames it on the fact that it's super late. Plus, she's really tired now that she's been fed, and she's feeling rather warm inside.

Definitely nothing to do with the woman in front of her being such a cutie.

Her hands tremble slightly as she reaches for the container, not enough for it to be noticeable to anyone else, and she smiles bashfully at Stacie as she says, "Thank you. I mean it. You didn't have to keep me company, listen to me rant, and then feed me afterwards."

Stacie shrugs a shoulder, dropping her arms to her side, smile a little wider, "It was no problem at all. I mean, getting to spend some quality time with a cute girl at three in the morning is kinda goals to be honest."

Aubrey laughs lightly, and she mentally face palms when she notices that she's shuffling her feet, but she can't stop herself from doing it, "I uhm…I feel a lot better after having spent time with you."

"I'm glad I could help," Stacie says as she nods seriously.

Clearing her throat, Aubrey lifts the container in her hands slightly as she turns slightly in the direction of the door, "Thank you uh for these. Again. And good night. I'll see you later…Or I mean I'll definitely text you later, and we'll-I'll…"

She lets out a slightly frustrated breath at having so spectacularly fumbled her words.

Stacie giggles and she gently reaches out a hand and barely touches her shoulder, "I think these cookies wrecked havoc on you…I'll text you back. You're welcome by the way, and yeah good night…sleep well. I can't wait for dinner."

Aubrey watches with slightly widened eyes as Stacie seems to contemplate her next move, before a serene smile crosses her face and she seems to have come to a decision.

Aubrey's breath catches when she sees Stacie's face come closer to hers, and she lets it out all in a rush when Stacie's lips press against her cheek lightly, a whisper of, "Sweet dreams," and then she's gone, leaving Aubrey standing alone in the middle of the communal kitchen holding onto a container full of cookies, with a dazed expression and a slight smile on her face.

* * *

 **A/N: So y'all can thank Knappster for this, cuz she asked for cute staubrey and I say ask and (maybe) ye shall receive lol**


	2. Chapter 2

**'k.'**

That's all the text entailed.

Stacie stares at her phone in quiet disbelief.

The thought of 'what the fuck did I do,' runs through her mind.

She scrolls back and rereads the conversation between herself and her girlfriend of seven, 'and a half, thank you very much', months.

 **'Bree…talk to me. What's up?'**

She bites her lip and twirls her phone around in her hand as she waits for the reply, wondering if maybe she's finally said something that was ill-timed and insensitive. In her defense…she's just a little shit sometimes, and she doesn't mean to be, especially not to-

' **I *am* talking to you. And nothing much.'**

Stacie lets out a frustrated sigh and wipes her hand down her face, trying not to scream; the feelings of frustration at not knowing what's wrong but knowing that there _is_ something wrong driving her up the wall.

 **'No, yeah…I know but I meant with…I was asking what the 'k' was for.'**

She rolls out of bed and makes her way towards her desk, taking a seat and immediately starts rolling the stress ball Aubrey got for her a while ago across the desk, her eyes never leaving her phone's screen.

 **'Nothing. We're good.'**

Now Stacie knows something is seriously up, but she also knows she hasn't done anything wrong to warrant this kind of frigid, almost mechanical, response from Aubrey.

She nods to herself as she types, **'Okay. That's good, I'm glad we had this conversation.'**

Stacie hits send before she can stop herself and in hindsight, maybe sending that didn't help the situation at all.

 **':)'**

That smiley face just confirms it.

She throws her phone over to the bed and it lands face up on the covers; a part of her is relieved it didn't bounce off and hit the floor because that would've made her new shitty mood even shittier.

She groans as she messily combs back her hair out of her face, contemplating her options.

Aubrey is obviously upset. Whether or not she was initially upset with her, Stacie isn't sure, but after her last text, she's pretty sure she's now in the dog house.

Stacie shakes her head and stomps over to the bed, pushing her phone off to the side to allow herself to comfortably smush her face into the pillows peacefully.

"Fucking shit. Communication is _hard_."

"I'm sure it'd be easier if your face wasn't busy trying to eat your pillows," Beca says as she walks into the room, a slight smirk on her face.

Stacie rolls over to her side and looks up at her pitifully, "Aubrey is mad…Like, not…she's just talking to me all stiffly and I haven't…I don't know what I've done?"

Beca tilts her head, taking a seat on her own bed across from Stacie, "Right…Have you asked her?"

Stacie hums an affirmative as she hands over her phone, showing Beca the sudden shift in gears. It's a testament to just how much of a tangible shift there is because Beca wasn't oblivious to it.

Her eyes are wide as she looks up from the screen, "Damn. The fuck did you do?"

Stacie shakes her head, "I don't _know_! Thus the frustration and confusion and just basically all out freak out right now. I don't get it."

Beca nods, but doesn't say anything else, knowing better than anyone that Stacie just needs to vent.

Sighing, Stacie stuffs her phone into her pocket and stands up, mumbling over her shoulder, "I'm just…I'm gonna go. I'll be back later," knowing that Beca would still be up by the time she decides to stroll back to their room.

Beca nods her head, "Alright…Dude just," she waits until Stacie looks at her before continuing, "just don't do anything stupid, alright?"

Stacie laughs as she says, "Alright," shutting the door and leaning against it for a beat, thinking about what exactly would be construed as stupid.

She zips up the light jacket she's wearing and rolls off of the door, furrowing her brow and stuffing her hands into her pockets.

Going on a walk is _not_ stupid.

Passing by the clock in the middle of the hallway that reads '12:13 a.m.' does not change her decision, nor her stance on whether or not it's a stupid one.

She walks around aimlessly for a little while, before deciding to visit the park. It's nice and cozy in the middle of the night when everything is quiet and calm.

Stacie doesn't know how long she stays for, just that it felt good to just sit on the swing and try and get her thoughts in order.

She's still certain she hasn't done anything wrong.

It's then that Stacie decides to go to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients because she needs to bake something, anything at all. The walk there takes an undetermined amount of time, because she keeps trying to kick this one particular stone, along so that it makes it to the store as well.

She's halfway back from the grocery store when the skies decide to open up and let down everything they've been holding back in the form of ice cold, torrential rain.

Stacie stands on the sidewalk and just shuts her eyes, a moment of 'really?' before glaring up at the sky, water pelting her face like little sharp needles, "Thanks."

She huffs as she continues to sulkily make her way back to campus, dragging her feet sullenly, not bothering to speed up seeing as she's already soaked through.

It takes a long while, but when she's finally back inside the building, she heads straight for the communal kitchen, completely disregarding her initial thought of going back to her room to change into something dry and warm and a lot less rain on.

The sound of water sloshing around in her favorite pair of shoes pisses her off a lot more than she'd like to admit but she continues to stomp her way to the kitchen, determined to bake away this bad mood.

She shoves open the doors when, lo and behold, who should be there, in the same seat she was in all those months ago.

"Aubrey…" The shock in her voice is not lost on anyone.

The blonde looks upset and her eyes a little red-rimmed, but the moment she takes in Stacie's appearance she looks relieved and is flying into her arms, "There you are!"

Stacie furrows her brow but wraps her arms around Aubrey and nods, "Here I am…"

Aubrey, just as quickly as she fell into her arms, is pulling back and smacking her arm in frustration, "Where the _hell_ have you been? And why the hell haven't you been answering? Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?"

Stacie takes a step back, confused beyond all reason, "Excuse me? I don't …I haven't, my phone has rung once sin-"

She's cut off when she sees the sheer number of notifications telling her just how many calls she's missed. Her surprise when she takes in the time that's glaring at her registers as well.

4:37 a.m.

"Shit," Stacie looks from her phone to Aubrey and shakes her head, "I swear I wasn't ignoring any of this."

Aubrey though is staring at her in abject horror.

"You're literally soaking wet! Were you…you were out there in this weather?!"

Stacie reaches out for Aubrey, resting her hands on her forearms, rubbing soothing circles with her thumb across her skin, "Bree, sweetheart, I'm fine."

Aubrey shakes her head, kind of just a little bit mad, "You went out at God knows when, got caught in a torrential rain storm, and come waltzing into the _kitchen,_ instead of going to your room to change your clothes. How is that being fine?"

Stacie furrows her brow, "Hey, it's not like I planned to get caught in the rain out there, okay? I didn't go out thinking, 'right okay, what's the best way to freak everyone out' and then proceed to just ignore everyone and everything, for hours, in favor of getting rained on."

Aubrey shakes her head, "No? _Really_? Because from where I'm standing-"

Stacie just shakes her head and walks past her towards the kitchen counters to put the bag of groceries down, refusing to be talked to like this, "I don't need this from you right now Bree. You give me cold and clipped responses, all day, culminating in some fantastically horrific texts before signing off with that fucking smiley face that you _know_ I hate because it means you're anything but smiling at me."

Aubrey shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath, knowing that they need to talk but really needing to take care Stacie right now. She takes a step forward and gently tugs on her sleeve, "You're going to get sick…Come on," she takes in a deep breath and reaches out for Stacie's hand, squeezing gently, "We're going to get you out of these clothes, okay?"

Stacie nods her head, refusing to say anything else until Aubrey's done worrying about her.

Aubrey pulls Stacie along, silently walking to Stacie's room.

Once there, Aubrey opens the door while calling out, "She's fine Beca, she walked right into the kitchen. Drenched, but she's fine…you can stop trying to reach the others."

Beca throws her phone down on the bed and whirls around so fast, eyes wild as she takes in Stacie's appearance.

It takes a second, during which Stacie wonders just what she'll do next, but Beca just ends up shaking her head as she runs her fingers through her hair, then turns to grab her headphones which she slams on, mumbling, "I'll get out of your hair. I'll be at Chloe's for the rest of the night."

Aubrey is the only one that acknowledges this, nodding as she goes over to Stacie's closet and starts pulling out dry clothes.

Stacie stands there watching her, taking in the rigidly straight back and the way she's trying to appear calm and relaxed.

"Strip."

The word wasn't delivered nearly as sexily as it had been in the past, and Stacie rolls her eyes sullenly at herself because, in the past it wasn't said because of her stupid decision to go walking around past midnight and getting caught in the rain.

Aubrey helps her slide her wet jeans off as she pulls on her shirt, shivering at the cool material meeting her still damp skin.

"What were you thinking?" Aubrey whispers as she slowly stands up, coming up so she's barely a few inches away from Stacie's lips, eyes boring into hers.

Stacie shakes her head, clearing her throat and darting her eyes away from Aubrey's, not wanting to admit that she wasn't really thinking.

She just really wanted to walk; she needed to, just to get away for a while and think.

Aubrey gently places her hands on her cheeks and pulls her face closer to her, making sure Stacie hasn't anywhere else to look, "Tell me what you were thinking, please."

Stacie sighs, before finally opening her mouth and speaking.

"I-I wasn't really. I just, I really needed to take a walk. I was upset and…I needed to get things so I could bake or whatever," Stacie knows she's mumbling, but really she can't help it.

She feels a little bit miserable and it sucks.

Aubrey nods, her eyes showing Stacie that she's not fairing too well in the misery department either, "You weren't ignoring everyone on purpose?"

Stacie shakes her head, "No, of course not."

She knows Aubrey really means to say 'me' rather than 'everyone' but that doesn't change her answer at all.

"Where did you go?" Aubrey asks quietly, her fingers lightly playing with the little hairs at the back of Stacie's neck, stepping a little bit closer, warming the brunette up by doing so.

Stacie places her hands on Aubrey's waist and leans her forehead against hers as she shrugs, "The park for a while, and then the store…I didn't realize I was gone for so long though. I didn't mean to be."

Aubrey sighs, pulling her into a hug. One that they both need, if they're honest with themselves.

Stacie feels the blonde relax against her body, and she lets out a sigh at the feeling, her own shoulders dropping.

"It's alright. You're okay and you're here now."

Stacie nods her head and pulls Aubrey impossibly closer, and whispers, "Are we going to talk about this?"

She feels Aubrey tense up slightly as she shakes her head, whispering back, "Not…not right now. But…definitely later Stace."

Stacie rubs her hands up and down Aubrey's back soothingly, humming low in her chest before whispering, "Okay…not now."

Aubrey then pulls back a little bit and just looks at Stacie for a while, her eyes boring into hers, before shaking her head and giving her a light kiss on her forehead, "Get into bed, I'll be right there."

Stacie climbs into bed just as she's told and rolls onto her side as she watches Aubrey take off her clothes and slip into one of her sweatshirts before crawling into bed with her.

"You smell like pine, and oak, and rain," Aubrey whispers against her neck, where she buries herself.

Stacie chuckles lightly after shivering at the feel of Aubrey's lips brushing against her neck, pulling her closer to her, "Kinda _was_ caught out in the rain…Come to think of it…I should probably shower actually."

Aubrey shakes her head adamantly, whispering, "later," still against her neck, before leaving a kiss to bottom of her jaw and shutting her eyes, "sleep now, okay? All the excitement about figuring out where you disappeared off to, and worrying about not being able to get hold of you, is catching up to me."

Stacie shuts her eyes, chuckling under her breath and barely shaking her head at this woman in her arms, "Alright, sounds good to me Bree."

Aubrey reaches up with her hand, blindly smacking her in the face as she tries to aim for her mouth, "Shh, we're sleeping remember?"

Stacie holds Aubrey's hand against her mouth and presses a couple of kisses to the palm of her hand, whispering, "Yeah…I remember."


End file.
